Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
British East India Company
Trade Token 1 Keping
(Sultana Version)
英國東印度公司
貿易代幣 1克平
(蘇丹娜版)
Item number: A509
Year: AD 1835
Material: Copper
Size: 20.9 x 20.9 x 0.5 mm
Weight: 1.9 g
Manufactured by: Soho Mint
Provenance: Noonans 2022
This is a trade token minted in AD 1835 by the British East India Company, based in Singapore, to facilitate trade with the island of Sumatra. The token was issued under the fictitious name “Island of Sultana” and features the emblem of a pair of prancing horse.
The prancing horse series trade tokens often bear the inscription “ISLAND OF SULTANA,” but this item belongs to the version without the inscription. The obverse of the coin features a shield flanked by prancing horses on either side. The shield is adorned with decorative lines, with a waving Union Jack flag above it and a scroll at the bottom. Below the scroll is the inscription “1835,” indicating the year of minting.
The reverse of the coin features the Jawi script commonly used in the Malay Archipelago, with the inscription “ڤولاو مىلايو,” meaning “Malay Islands.” At the bottom edge, the date is indicated in Eastern Arabic numerals as “١۴۱١,” which corresponds to the year AD 1990.
This coin, minted in AD 1835, uses an Islamic calendar date corresponding to the 20th century. The reason behind this lies in the events starting from October 15, AD 1835, when Dutch authorities based in Batavia (Jakarta) discovered that British trade tokens were circulating within Sumatra, a region under Dutch claim. To circumvent the Dutch ban on tokens bearing the name “Sumatra,” the British East India Company, operating out of Singapore, renamed the tokens to reference the fictitious “Island of Sultana” and adjusted the Islamic calendar date on the coins to evade Dutch restrictions.